Month: October 2009

A client who had travelled with us previously was in a ‘competition’ to visit a country starting with each letter of the alphabet. There is only one with the letter ‘Y’, Yemen, and we organised a Yemen Visit. Continue reading “Picnic in Yemen”

As a child I enjoyed Horse Riding – and occasional jumping. Though of course not as skilled as the 9 year old British children who enter the show jumping events at the UK’s Pony Club I cannot recollect my having a serious fall.

Perhaps it was this enjoyment of riding that attracted me to Camel Racing in Oman; though Camels don’t jump

Robot Jockeys

they manage most other things , including beauty competitions.

The start of this years Camel Racing Season in Oman marks a departure from previous years. The jockeys – young Bedu boys from the local communities close to the race, with all their swagger and bravado – have disappeared, to be replaced by Robots.

Authentically Omani Bedu Jockeys

I will certainly miss the cultural interest in future Camel races – and hope that the Pony Club in England doesn’t eject the British youngsters from their saddles in favour of robots.

In an extraordinarily close finish in the last leg of the last race on the last day (just as they won the Gulf Cup in Football – nail biting) Oman Sail’s Masirah has won the “iShares Cup Champions 2009” in Almeria, Spain.

Whats even more extraordinary is that this was their first season – hopefully more to come.

Just before it launches I took a look at the Jewel of Muscat, the replica of a 9th Century West Indian Ocean (Arabian Sea) boat. This is being constructed in Muscat and will sail to Singapore where it will be the focus of a Museum about the Belitung, a wreck full of Chinese merchandise .

The boat is sewn, rather than nailed together, a technique used in Oman until the mid 20th c .

Jewel of Muscat

The Jewel uses extreme sewing – which in most boats I’ve seen was used for structurally critical parts of a boat. Probably for a long ocean voyage, between Oman and China, every part of the boat would be considered critical.